Employee health and wellness has become a growing concern for many companies as of late. With COVID-19 having shaken the foundations of many people's lives, it’s become even more crucial to be aware of an employees’ overall health. With more and more people becoming health conscious lately. It is no surprise that the interest in health and wellness is increasing in the business world.
Aside from improving your employee's personal lives, the promotion of health and wellness can also benefit your company. Businesses are always interested in finding ways to improve their profitability and employee retention. The best possible way to pull this off is by focusing on the wellness of the workplace. Why is that the case?
The reason for this is because better health and wellness has been shown to cause an increase in productivity, improved employee focus, and company health care savings. Regardless of whether or not your company has created an official wellness program, you should consider taking the appropriate steps towards establishing healthier habits during the workday. With today’s mobile culture, apps have become an excellent way to provide your employees with the right tools they need for better health and wellness.
However, there are way too many mobile health apps on the market, so it can be challenging to choose one that suits your employee's needs. That is why we’ve decided to put together a list of apps that promote employee health and wellness for you.
1. Headspace
Recent research has revealed that meditation can serve as an excellent way to reduce anxiety and boost focus, among other benefits. With COVID-19 impacting everyone's lives, it’s never been more critical to address anxiety and stress. That's why we recommend Headspace is one of the many health and wellness apps you should promote to your employees.
Headspace is a well-known and popular meditation app that has broadened its reach to help corporate clients. It has managed to onboard companies like Google, Genentech, and Starbucks among its long list of work clients. According to Headspace, users can reduce their stress by 32% after a month and experience 14% fewer burnouts in just two weeks. The wellness app provides users with hundreds of guided meditations on everything from anxiety to focus, whether employees are in the office or working from home.
Along with giving access to Headspace’s massive library, companies will gain access to an administration portal, member support, and launch and enrollment resources, along with other workplace-focused resources. The app provides a wide assortment of themes, including focus, sleep, and stress. It serves as an excellent way to benefit the mental health of your employees.
2. My Fitness Pal
My Fitness Pal is one of the older health and wellness apps around, but it continues to remain a popular one among rankings. First off, the app is entirely free and provides an easy-to-use calorie counter that enables users to quickly track their snacks, meals, and drink intake throughout the day. That alone makes it an exceptional option for employees who are interested in losing weight. The database has over five million different types of foods, which is how they help users keep track of their calorie intake.
Having the capability to seamlessly keep track of what you consume throughout the day can help balance your calorie intake and reach weight loss goals.
3. StepBet
While living a much healthier lifestyle is crucial, it is challenging for most people to even do the most easygoing exercises, such as taking a walk or getting up from their seats. Plus, most people tend to have busy schedules or live in areas where everything needs to be accessed by cars, which doesn’t help with finding the time to stay in shape. For that reason, there have been several fitness apps that pay people to work out or lead more active, healthy lifestyles.
These fitness apps can provide your employees with fantastic incentives to get them motivated to finally achieve their fitness goals. Best of all, none of them will complain about earning a little bit of passive income on the side for their efforts in improving themselves. One of these apps that have been growing in popularity in the world of monetized fitness apps is StepBet.
StepBet is an app developed by WayBetter to provide users a way to reach fitness goals by placing a bet on themselves. With StepBet, users can bet money into a pool of other players on their journey to remain active. Players will only recoup their bet if they manage to reach their fitness goals. Nevertheless, if the person doesn’t achieve their goals, they will lose out on all the money they staked. The gamification model is what has made StepBet one of the more popular health apps around.
While it can be easy to come up with fitness goals, it is pretty hard to maintain them. With StepBet, your employees will have something to lose. Most importantly, they have the potential to earn extra profits from winning. They also become a part of the StepBet community, which grants them access to a like-minded group of people that motivate each other.
4. BetterHelp
BetterHelp is one of the many other wellness apps that has made its way on the market to help people improve their mental health. The app has become increasingly popular due to its ease of navigation, convenience, and it offers several services that will fit plenty of people’s mental health needs.
When a user first signs up for BetterHelp, they will be prompted to fill out a questionnaire that will help pair them up with the right counselor. During the questionnaire, the user will be asked their preferences regarding the therapist’s gender, age, language, religion, and sexual orientation. Users can also share counseling goals to find a professional that matches the skill required to achieve said goals.
The matching process can take up to two days, but once the app has finished matching the user, they can begin using the therapy’s provider services. That includes a weekly phone, video, or chat counseling session and 24/7 chat via text. They also get to be a part of a weekly interactive group session of their choice and receive digital modules.
The baseline plan comes with one weekly therapy session through the format of the user's choice, such as video call, phone call, or chat. Users can message their therapist 24/7 but shouldn’t expect an immediate response. Usually, they will receive a response within 24 hours.
5. Whil
If your company is on the larger side and you are looking to establish a wellness program, then this app is suited for you. Whil provides its users with digital resilience training that is tailor-made for workplace wellness programs. They support 12 facets of employee wellness with more than 250 programs and 1500 audio/video sessions on wellness, emotional intelligence, and positive psychology.
The program includes:
- Guidance for group sessions
- Leadership education
- Customizable digital, video, and printable resources
- A communication concentrated on adding points and rewards
- An administrator dashboard to monitor the progress
With the capability to with other corporate wellness platforms, Whil has become one of the most comprehensive and workplace-specific apps on the market.
6. Talkspace
Talkspace is an online text and video chat platform that provides access to a list of therapists that covers a wide range of mental health services. When a person signs up for Talkspace, they’ll be asked to complete a questionnaire that concentrates on the user's goals and preferences. The intake process has a licensed therapist act as the matching agent, locating the best possible therapist for the user. Throughout the process, the agent uses a scripted questionnaire to make sure they can match the user with a therapist that can best fit their needs.
Once the whole process has been achieved, the user is provided with several options that will be presented to them. They then choose from a list of licensed, accredited therapists. If none of the therapists match the needs of the user, they can request more. The therapists that Talkspace has managed to onboard have all been given background checks and verified to be licensed professionals.
Once a therapist has been chosen, a virtual therapy room is created and is accessible through the mobile app or web browser. In these rooms, users can send and reply to messages from their therapists 24/7. They should expect to receive a response at least five times a week since the therapist will be able to view and respond to them throughout the day.
Talkspace also offers live video sessions, so users can have a face-to-face experience if they prefer. Users can also inspect in advance what a usual therapy course looks like through measures such as breakthroughs, checkpoints, and growth reports. It also permits them to tweak the plan how they see fit. If something is not working out well for the user, they can change therapists or stop the session altogether. The app even provides several short how-to videos that can help navigate the service.
7. Strava
Before COVID-19, most employees were spending over 15 hours a day on average sitting down. That includes time spent in front of the computer at work, along with time sitting on the couch watching TV at home. Most people these days are aware that they need to remain more active and avoid a sedentary lifestyle, but the motivation to do so is hard to achieve.
Strava was created to assist people to become motivated by tracking the workout performance and teaching the user how to reach those goals. The app can also help users connect with a massive community of other workout enthusiasts for additional motivation. Users can share pictures, routines, routes, and trails. For an extra layer of security, users can also share their location with other members of the community.
8. Hotseat
Hotseat is another app that has managed to recognize the issue with people spending far too much time sitting around. That sort of sedentary lifestyle can lead to negative consequences for a person’s health. The app was created to encourage the user to move their body by aligning the user's personal preferences, time availability, and personal fitness levels.
The short breaks a person takes from sitting are transformed into an enjoyable and meaningful activity that is shareable with the rest of the workplace. Employees will only need a few minutes and a couple of times per day to make use of this workplace wellness app. Hotseat can even provide a calendar availability for employees and slots in a couple of minutes of breaks throughout the workday. The employees will then be encouraged to get up from their seats and move around.
9. Meditation Studio
The Meditation Studio app has managed to simplify the meditation process to help employees achieve a state of relaxation. The app has managed to onboard over 30 meditation experts who are prepared to help the user achieve a greater sense of happiness and peace. That allows your employees to decide on a voice and style that best fits their needs.
Employees are given the option to decide on a guided meditation tailored to their needs, whether it's for the intended purpose of improving sleep, reducing stress, lessening anxiety, or boosting confidence levels. For those looking for a much deeper meditation session, the app does provide those courses. Users have the option to add or remove background music and ambient sounds. That way, your employees will have the opportunity to create a fully customizable experience to lessen their stress levels and improve their mood.
Conclusion
Health and wellness are topics that everyone needs to take seriously. You need to prioritize improving your employee's overall health and wellness. Doing so will show them that you care about their well-being and increase their loyalty to your organization. It also ensures that productivity and efficiency boost among employees. The apps we have provided here all have ways that can ensure your employees receive the best possible health and wellness experience around. So, start promoting them to your team and watch them get better over time.
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